On a 63-33 vote, and with six Republicans voting “yes,” the U.S. Senate — at a little before noon today — voted for cloture on the stand-alone bill aimed at repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, overcoming the largest hurdle remaining for repeal of the 1993 law banning openly gay, lesbian and bisexual military service.

The House approved the bill overwhelmingly this past week, and President Barack Obama has expressed his strong support for the bill and is expected to sign it.

The cloture vote, which required the approval of at least 60 senators, means that only 30 hours of debate remain before DADT repeal comes up for a final vote. Usually, because the vote for final passage only requires a simple majority vote of the senators, the 30-hour requirement is waived. It was not clear, however, whether Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would allow the requirement to be waived regarding the DADT repeal bill.

Big winners: Harry Reid (shudder) and Nancy Pelosi (huzzah!)

Big losers: John McCain (who will now go down in history as the grumpy old man who fought to preserve institutional bigotry) and Joe Manchin (D?) (who didn’t eve have the balls to show up for the vote).